The Merritt Centennials (20-26-4-1) blanked the Cowichan Valley Capitals (9-37-5-2) 4-0 on Sunday afternoon over in Duncan BC. They picked up the win after losing two games beforehand, a 7-4 loss versus the Powell River Kings (27-16-6-4) and 3-1 against the Nanaimo Clippers (28-20-3-3) on Saturday night.
The Centennials opened up the scoring just two minutes and twenty seconds into the game, that goal coming from Tyrell Buckley; Zach Risteau and Zach Court drew the assists on that goal. Buckley now has eight goals on the season and 24 assists.
The middle frame was quiet for almost the first ten minutes but at 9:17 of the second, it was Mathieu Gosselin that got the puck past Michael Corson on the power play to put the Centennials up 2-0. Buckley getting the assist on the second goal. Gosselin now has 10 goals on the season with 21 assists. The second period did see a lot of penalties, four for both sides but it was the Centennials that went two for five on the man advantage.
With just under four minutes to play in the second the Centennials got two quick goals to end the frame, Mattias Dal Monte scoring his first BCHL goal at 15:08 and just 33 seconds later, Ashton Stockie got the puck past the Capitals goaltender. Stockie now has seven goals on the season with 14 assists. Dal Monte has one goal and one assist. Dal Monte’s goal was set up from Zach Court and Brenden Schneider while Stockie’s goal was set up by Jackson Munro and Chase Bell.
The third period saw nothing except for penalties, the Centennials getting four minutes altogether while the Capitals saw Azzaro Tinling getting a game misconduct and Marshall Skapski going off for slashing.
Austin Roden got his second shutout of the season since joining the team back in October.
Next game day action for the Centennials goes on Wednesday night as they take on the Langley Rivermen (22-18-10-2) for a Valentine’s Day affair.
